5 historic moments at Bellerive Country Club that you may not know

BYAndy Wittry | PGA.com,July 24th, 2018·

The PGA Championship returns to Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis in August for the first time in more than 25 years. When Bellerive last hosted the major in 1992, Nick Faldo was the world's No. 1 golfer, then-43-year-old Tom Watson wasn't even halfway through his eventual 42-year run on the PGA Tour and Tiger Woods had just become the first two-time winner of the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship.

In other words, a lot of time has passed since Bellerive was last in the spotlight at the PGA Championship, so here are five historic moments at the country club that you may not know.

1910 – Bellerive Country Club's incorporation

After the nine-hole Bellerive Country Club was founded in 1897 by 166 members, the country club incorporated 13 years later. The club was named after Louis St. Ange De Bellerive, the last French commander in North America.

Gary Player at the 1965 U.S. Open. (The PGA of America archives)

1965 – The youngest U.S. Open host

Bellerive became the "youngest" course to host the U.S. Open in 1965. Twenty-nine year-old Gary Player became the first foreign golfer to win the U.S. Open in 45 years when he defeated Kel Nagle in a playoff.

The victory completed Player's career grand slam and he donated $25,000 of his $26,000 in prize money to cancer research and junior golf.

Nick Price at the 1992 PGA Championship. (The PGA of America archives)

1992 – Nick Price wins PGA Championship

In August, Bellerive will become the 18th club to host the PGA Championship multiple times. In the country club's PGA Championship debut, South African-born Zimbabwean Nick Price won the first of his three major championships by winning the 1992 PGA Championship by three strokes.

2006 – Renovation and reopening

The Bellerive that we know today can be credited to the work of Rees Jones, the son of the original architect, Robert Trent Jones. Rees Jones led a year-long renovation that culminated in the course's reopening in October 2006.

On Jones's website, he notes that he and his team "completely rebuilt" Bellerive, while keeping his father's design style. The younger Jones repositioned and rebuilt the bunkers, tightened the fairways, removed trees and added a lake on the 2nd hole.

Jones also assisted in further course modifications in 2013 that included improved sight lines and the addition of championship bunker sand.

2013 – Bellerive reaches milestone as a host

In case there is any question of Bellerive's history or tradition since it has hosted the PGA Championship just once before, let's set the record straight. In 2013, the country club hosted the 74th Senior PGA Championship to become just the third club to host the U.S. Open, PGA Championship, U.S. Senior Open and Senior PGA Championship.

Kohki Idoki won the 2013 Senior PGA Championship at 11-under, beating Kenny Perry and Jay Haas by two strokes.